Last month, the Combat Zone started a new series about the
“big names” of our sport during the
glory years of television coverage.
Now, 10 years after the demise of
that major coverage, we tracked
down some of the most famous
names from that era to gain their
perspective after robot combat
underwent a drastic change in
direction.

Brian Nave qualifies as a big
name in so many ways. He
participated in every major televised
combat series; is co-host of his own
TV show on DIY network; organized
a successful series of combat events;
and is a part of the inner circle of
folks who started the Robot Fighting
League.

On a personal note, I was
honored to be part of the group of
people who supported Brian in his
BattleBeach and BattleBeach Lite
events. Typical of Brian, when a local
school needed a “draw” for a
technology event, he instantly
accepted my invitation to spend a
Saturday in a city 50 miles away,
helping interest kids in robotics, and
was, of course, very popular with the
crowds.

SERVO: Brian, back in the day
you did it all -— Robot Wars,
BattleBots, Steel Conflict. How did
you get into the sport, and what
hooked you so thoroughly you sunk
so much time, energy, and money
into participating?

Brian Nave: I was watching
BattleBots™ with my young boys and

Brian Nave,
during the
height of the
BattleBots era.

they were LOVING it. I looked at the
robots fighting then — Nightmare,
Big Brother, Mauler — and said “I can
do a LOT better than that!” I stayed
up night and day thinking about
different designs.

I loved the excitement and
carnage that Mauler brought to the
arena, but hated the fact that it
constantly broke itself. I was
determined to build a spinner that
would survive its own power. Thus,
Phrizbee was born. As it turns out,
surviving its own power was the least
of Phrizbee’s problems.

Battery and motor technology
hadn’t quite gotten up to the
requirements of this type of bot just
yet, and most of my “battles” were
getting enough charge into the
batteries to last the whole fight and
keeping the motors from burning up,
but as they say in the robot fighting
biz ... “Damage is just weakness
leaving the robot.”
I kept learning and while I did,
more advanced chemistries with
higher energy densities became
available for batteries, and more
powerful motors became available for
the spin. I guess what kept me
hooked and excited was the constant
“destructive testing” of the machine.
The never-ending quest for perfection
... I never attained it, but I learned a
lot through my failures.